All for a Rose (34 page)

Maribel sputtered, her cheeks suddenly scalding. “You…”

Daman focused glittering eyes on Corrine. “You have been sspying.” His voice dropped to a deadly hiss and his coils flexed as they covered more of Corrine’s body. “Why are you really here, witch?”

“I’m here to get my sister back.” Corrine choked, her voice growing raspy as her chest was constricted by the scaled body clutching her tighter with every breath she released. 

“No. No, that iss not why you’re really here.” Daman flicked his forked tongue into the air between them, so close to Corrine he could have licked her. Corrine shrieked and angled her face away. “You tasste of magic. What sspell have you been working on your ssisster?”

A garbled sound came from Corrine’s throat, but no words. She thrashed feebly and the hand holding Daman’s away from her throat trembled. His claws inched forward, closing the distance, tips brushing pale skin.

Maribel shoved herself up, ignoring the fresh wave of nausea that swept over her and nearly threw her out of the bed. She thrust out a hand as Daman’s claws dimpled Corrine’s skin, sharp points pressing in.

“Daman,
stop
!”

Corrine tried to suck in a breath, but it came out a skin-crawling wheeze. Her face darkened to purple, green-glowing eyes dulling.

Maribel lurched, shoving herself off the bed. Her feet hit the floor and her legs threatened to give way, half-spilling her to the rug. She grabbed the edge of the bed, holding on, waiting for the room to stop spinning. Panic sent adrenaline through her system like an acid wash, and she gritted her teeth.

“Daman, get away from her.”

Daman’s gaze was locked on Corrine’s neck, followed a drop of blood that had welled out around one of his claws. “You are too closse, you cannot ssee the truth right in front of you. Sshe caress nothing for you, Maribel! You are a changeling, a child left at her housse in the middle of the night. Whatever sshe’ss ssaid to you, sshe caress only about your power.”

His face twisted with fury. “Sshe’ss done ssomething to you. I know sshe hass. Sshe wass holding you and you were getting weaker while sshe sseemed only to grow sstronger.” The muscle in his jaw tightened and he flexed his muscles, leaning forward. Corrine’s arms trembled, but she held him back. “Don’t you ssee how much sstronger sshe iss? I know there iss a connection.”

Every word out of his mouth was another needle in Maribel’s heart, another strip of skin peeled away to leave her raw and vulnerable. It was only minutes ago she’d been so happy, everything had been settled, all was right with the world. What was this nightmare, where had it come from? She stared at Daman, willing him to listen. “You’re the one who can’t see what’s right in front of you. Corrine has been studying magic in the hopes of coping with her illness. It makes sense that she’s getting stronger. That’s why she studies magic, why would she continue to study if it wasn’t working?”

“Do you hear how sshe defendss you?” Daman pulled Corrine closer, constricting, tightening his coils around her. “Do you hear the love in her voicce? Sshe musst feel what you’ve done to her, ssomewhere insside her, sshe musst know. And sshe defendss you anyway—lovess you anyway. How heartlessss musst you be to usse her?”

Corrine’s eyes flashed, then the green light died, leaving them a brown so dark it was nearly black. Her gaze flicked to Maribel, her face a sickening shade of bluish purple. Maribel tried to meet her eyes, tried to offer her encouragement, support, some sign that she had more faith in Corrine than Daman did. Corrine’s eyes glistened with tears and she looked away.

Maribel stifled the roll of unease at the way Corrine wouldn’t meet her eyes. “Daman, please. I care so much for you, and I do want to stay here. But Corrine is my sister. If you hurt her… I don’t know how I would ever move past that.”

Daman’s face twisted in pain. “Maribel…”

Suddenly his entire body spasmed. A muffled choke garbled from his mouth, his coils going limp around Corrine as his body arched back, face going taut. The blade of a dagger protruded from his chest, just to the side of his heart. Ruby red blood welled up in the wound, spilling down his body and outlining his silver scales with rivulets of crimson. A trickle of blood escaped his mouth as he blinked down at the weapon, the black slits of his eyes flickering, silver irises shifting from silver to dull iron. Maribel screamed and stumbled forward.

Corrine gasped, choked, the ragged sounds speaking to the condition of her ravaged lungs. She lay on the floor like a ragdoll, half of her body still lying on Daman’s coils where she’d fallen. Brown eyes too wide, she lay on the floor, staring up at Daman like a sinner on his deathbed, gazing into the face of an avenging angel.

The hand that had been trying to claw at Daman was free, extended toward the
naga
as though she’d thrown the knife. Her bag was open on the floor beside the bed, a silken scarf trailing out of it as though something had been pulled in a hurry from the depths of the satchel. By magic.

Maribel hovered in front of Daman, afraid to touch him, afraid that she would only bring him pain. Tears blurred her vision and she spoke to her sister without facing her. “Corrine?”

Corrine heaved herself away from Daman, scurrying away from his coils as if they might grab her again. “He was going to kill me.” Her voice was a broken rasp, each word sounding like a struggle. “I had to do something.”

A sob broke from Maribel’s throat, tears welling up to blind her. Daman was still frozen, whether from shock or pain she didn’t know. He wasn’t looking at her. Rather, his leaden gaze was zeroed in on Corrine.

“Daman…”

The
naga
dove for her sister with more speed than a human, but less than he’d been capable of before. His silvery-scaled body flashed, his arm rising above his head, slick white claws spread. Corrine opened her mouth to scream, but the noise never made it past her lips. Daman brought his hand down, slashing her throat and upper chest. Maribel screamed again as Corrine fell back against the wall, sliding down into a crumpled heap.

“I won’t…let you hurt her,” Daman rasped.

Time slowed, becoming thick and palpable. Maribel had all the time in the world to see the light die in Daman’s eyes, the tension melt from his face as a ripple moved from one end of his body to the other. His torso hit the ground with a dull thud and a rustle of scales. He didn’t get back up.

Maribel’s heart constricted in her chest, so tight she could scarcely breathe around the solid weight of it. Panic, fear, desperation all braided together, forging strength that rushed through her body with nerve-sizzling intensity. She half-fell toward Daman, hands out, choked cry lodged in her throat. A wet wheezing sound came from behind her.

Corrine.

The sound drew Maribel, some instinct telling her that she might be too late to save Daman, but her sister was still alive. Corrine held her neck with one hand, blood seeping through her fingers. Her face was deathly pale, her lips nearly white. Blood soaked her gown, some of it hers gushing from the wounds in her neck and chest, flowing down her body in a broad ribbon, and some of it Daman’s splattered over her like some macabre rain. She didn’t speak, just stared at Maribel.

“No!” Maribel sobbed and fell to her knees beside Corrine. “No…”

Corrine’s lips moved but no sound came out. Maribel searched the floor around her, searching for something, anything to staunch the flow of blood. She spotted Corrine’s bag on the floor, but Corrine’s hand scrabbled at her arm.
            “Maribel…”

Her voice was so faint, Maribel nearly missed it. She clutched Corrine’s hand in hers, fingers slipping in the slick coating of blood. She leaned closer so her ear was right next to Corrine’s mouth.

“S…sorry…”

Maribel shook her head, warm tears streaming down her face. “No. No, don’t be sorry, don’t be sorry, Corrine.” She hesitated before brushing Corrine’s hair behind her ear, stroking her cheek. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I left you, I’m sorry I brought you here, I’m just,” she choked, “sorry.”

Corrine’s eyes drifted closed. A long exhalation rolled out from her body, flowing from her nose and mouth on a sigh that came from somewhere deep in her body. Something inside Maribel loosened, the phantom string she’d felt so keenly earlier. The nausea and pain she’d had a moment ago vanished, so quickly it made her head spin anew. She blinked, startled at how much more vibrant the world seemed suddenly, how much clearer her mind was. Strength flowed through her and she pulled in a deep, soul-cleansing breath.

Corrine slid to the floor, her head lolling to the side. A small smile played over her lips.

“Sshe wass holding you and you were getting weaker while sshe sseemed only to grow sstronger. Don’t you ssee how much sstronger sshe iss? I know there iss a connection.”

“Sshe musst feel what you’ve done to her, ssomewhere insside her, sshe musst know.”

Maribel’s hand stilled on Corrine’s cheek. Slowly, tilted her head down so she could look into Corrine’s cloudy brown eyes. “You were taking energy from me.”

Corrine blinked once, slowly.

Dread curled in Maribel’s stomach, sent icy shards bobbing into her bloodstream. “Corrine?”

“Y…yes.”

The confession was so breathy that Maribel had to strain to hear it, and even then she thought she might have imagined it. Her heart pounded, hope shooting up inside of her like a geyser, explosive with its force. She grabbed Corrine by the shoulders. “Do it again,” she commanded. “Take more, take everything you need.”

Corrine’s teeth clacked together from the force of Maribel’s jostling. She could tell the moment the words registered because Corrine’s eyes flew open, the haze over the brown orbs retreating. “No,” she rasped. “Will kill…you.”

Maribel shook her head, unable to keep from looking at Daman’s body lying a few feet away. He hadn’t moved, hadn’t shifted. There was no rise and fall to his body, no twitch in any flesh from the top of his head to the tip of his heavy tail. He was gone.  She bit her lip to hold back a sob. “I won’t watch you die too.”

Corrine tried to push herself up, hands scrabbling at the ground, pushing her back against the wall in a vain attempt to shove herself upright. Her dress tore, the sound of wet fabric tearing jolting Corrine out of her futile attempts. She stilled, studying Maribel from the corner of her eye. A spark of green lit somewhere deep within the brown irises.

Maribel recognized the pull when it started. It was the same string, the same nauseating tug that had laid her out earlier. Even prepared for it as she was, she couldn’t help but curl her arms around her stomach as if that could ease the discomfort. The invigoration of a moment ago seemed like a dream as the adrenaline fizzled out, left her drained, listing to the side.

She blinked trying to stay conscious, needing to reassure herself that Corrine was getting better. Images blurred into watery blobs of color and gray ate away at the edges of her vision. Her heart lurched as she fell back…

And into a pair of strong arms.

Maribel blinked, breath chilling to ice in her lungs. “Daman?”

Daman’s eyes looked into hers from where he hovered over her. Well, sort of Daman’s eyes. They were the same beautiful silver, but the pupils were round like a human’s instead of slitted like a reptile’s. Her brow furrowed, brain fighting to process the other changes. His skin. It wasn’t pale silvery-blue anymore. It was the pale flesh tone of a human. The scales were gone, the ridges that had traced his brow, curled down his shoulders…gone.

“Maribel?” Daman held her face in his hands, gently, as if afraid of hurting her.

“Daman!” Maribel thrashed in his lap, desperate to sit up, to see for herself that she wasn’t dreaming. Arms akimbo, body stubbornly refusing to do as she instructed it, she let out a cry of frustration.

“Easy, easy,” Daman hushed her.

The strong arms around her flexed, became steadying. Maribel’s hands landed on his shoulder, dancing over his skin, his jaw, his face. He held still, let her touch him, reassure herself he was all right.

“Oh, Daman, what happened?” she breathed. “I thought you were dead, and Corrine—”

Daman’s face tightened, pain in his eyes. His grip on Maribel tightened and he tried to pull her to him, tried to keep her from turning around to where Corrine would be.

“Daman…” Maribel struggled against him, straining to look behind her. Daman put his hands on her face. Slowly, he shook his head. Panic rose like a wild thing in Maribel’s chest and she renewed her efforts, thrashing, needing to see for herself.

Daman had to let her go or risk hurting her. As soon as he relaxed his grip, Maribel spun, heart in her throat.

Corrine was lying on the floor, her eyes open, but drooping. Her chest rose and fell slightly. Or did it?

“Corrine!” Maribel tried to go to her sister, but her body wouldn’t support her. She collapsed, sobbing, stretching for her sister, but only grasping the edge of her skirts. Daman’s hands closed around her, lifted her and carried her to Corrine’s body.

“I don’t understand,” Maribel sobbed. “What happened?”

A muffled shouting from somewhere close by drew Maribel’s frazzled attention to Corrine’s bag. She pointed, too disoriented to verbalize what she needed. Daman followed her hand and nodded. After carefully settling her against the wall—moving so slowly Maribel wanted to scream—he fetched the bag and brought it to Maribel. She fished around in the bag and removed a small cage.

A tiny creature was inside, roughly the size of a raven, but thin and humanoid. She had pale pink skin and her clothing was sewn from some sort of gauzy material that was darker in some places and clung to her body as if it had dried funny. It swiped it’s long ponytail out of its eyes and glared at Maribel, translucent wings fluttering angrily.

“Let me out!” the fairy demanded. She stared at Corrine’s body slumped on the floor, face creasing in consternation. “Let me out or she’ll die!”

Maribel flicked the latch on the cage and opened the door, barely resisting the urge to shake the cage to get the loud creature out faster. The fairy zipped out in a flash of glittering lights and landed on Corrine’s shoulder.